


A Brewing Nirvasyl Epidemic

by SolamenteCelia



Category: BNA: Brand New Animal (Anime), Furry (Fandom)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Original Character(s), Sharks, Skunks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25251460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolamenteCelia/pseuds/SolamenteCelia
Summary: 10 years after Michiru and Shirou Ogami defeated Alan Sylvasta in Anima City, humans and beastmen are living in relative peace over in the United States. However, a recent spike in cases of Nirvasyl Syndrome all over the country draws into question whether this peace was ever destined to last.(Adapted from a roleplay)(Haven’t read the manga so don’t know if there are any inconsistencies between that and this)
Kudos: 3





	1. Bad Dreams

Saria rolled out of bed and almost immediately yelped as she stepped on a tail she didn’t even realize she had. Covering her mouth to avoid waking her parents with the scream so early in the morning, she fell back onto her bed, cursing.

Of course she’d transformed back into animal form overnight. That would be the third time it’s happened just this week. This coupled with the exhaustion she’d been feeling nearly everyday told the girl that she must’ve been having particularly stressful dreams at night.

She set her alarm for five minutes in the future in case she fell asleep again and shut her eyes. The small adrenaline spike from stepping on her tail wasn’t helping, but after just a minute or so she felt the familiar sensation of transforming back into a human—or at least one with black and white hair and ears on the top of her head.

She stood up and began getting ready for school. She’d have to brew an extra strong cup of coffee with how restless the previous night had been. She just wished she could remember what the dreams were about.

Not much of note happened to Saria as she got ready for school and drove there, aside from an upset stomach due to the strong coffee she made herself. She loved how each senior got their own parking spot.

She stopped by homeroom before heading off to her first class. She sat down toward the back of the room just as she and her friend Bea always did. She got there early, so she thought she’d be able to take a small nap while she waited. However it felt like the second her head hit the cold, wooden desk, the first bell rang. She groaned in the empty room and begrudgingly accepted that she’d have to stay awake.

Bea was always late. It was one of the few traits that set her apart from the rest of her family. Mako sharks had a bit of a tendency to look similar. Their sleek blue and white scales, the rows and rows of sharp teeth, and the large fins all started to look fairly similar after a while. 

As she bustled into her first class with her bag clutched against her chest, she couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. She’d only just missed getting to class after the teacher. 

With a sigh, she unceremoniously plopped down next to Saria and flashed her a toothy smile, “How’re you holding up today, Stinky?”

Saria playfully replied, “Keep calling me that and one of these days I may actually make you regret it.” She smiled back. “I’m ok, I’m just—”

She was cut off by the teacher at the front of the class speaking very loudly. That instructor was, of course, a human, just like everybody else in the classroom apart from Saria, Bea, and a cat girl that preferred to sit up front. Everyone else was either human, or at the very least had no obvious external signs of being a beastman.

Practically out of habit, she opened her notebook to a blank page, ripped it out as quietly as she could, and began writing a note to her classmate on it. It was something of a tradition for the two to exchange notes written on the same piece of paper throughout the first-bell class. On particularly boring days, the page of looseleaf would sometimes get so filled up that it was sometimes hard to tell where the other’s most recent addition to it lay. Saria decided to start them out today by finishing the sentence the teacher had cut her off from finishing.

> Tired as FUCK

Bea read the note before scribbling her own addition onto it. Similar to her overall personality and appearance, her handwriting was a bit sharp and not very delicate. 

> Having issues sleeping again? 

Bea then slid the bit of paper silently back to the skunk girl, the small patches of ragged scales on her fingers catching the paper lightly.

Saria took the paper back as discreetly as she could, read it, then penned her reply.

> yeah. i’ve been sleeping like absolute shit this past week. did i tell you about how i’ve even been waking up transformed?

She slid the note back to her best friend. Bea frowned slightly at the paper as she read. 

> No you didn't mention that. That's pretty weird, any idea what's causing it?

The shark tapped her finger against the desk absentmindedly as she slid the note back. Saria took the note and did her best to write a common emoticon at the start of it.

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ i assume it’s nightmares. wish i could know what they were about but i can’t remember any of them.

She handed the note back, and Bea had to stifle a small laugh at the crudely drawn emoticon on the paper. 

> Weird, but it’s pretty common to forget dreams after you wake up. Maybe you were dreaming of skunk things and your body just decided to go full skunk mode?

Bea handed back the note, hoping Saria would pick up on her slightly sarcastic tone. She did, indicated by the frown that appeared on her face as she read.

> hey, Bea, why don’t you meet me in the girls’ bathroom alone after class? i can show you this really cool thing i know how to do with my ass

The skunk was about to hand it back to her before deciding that she sounded too mean. She added more.

> that was just a joke obviously. it’s just so weird that i don’t remember my dreams at all upon waking up. usually i can at least hang onto them for a few minutes, but not at all this week

Snickering slightly at the message, the shark thought for a moment before scribbling out another reply. 

> Yeah that's pretty strange. I wonder what those dreams are about. Like, now I'm invested in this whole mystery.  
>  Though can you even spray when you're in your human form? I don't need a demonstration, I'm just curious.

When the skunk girl took back the slip of paper, she seemed to be thinking intensely for a long while. After a few minutes had passed, she began writing again.

> just tried to test that and it turns out no, i don’t think i can. i think i only get my glands if my ass is in skunk mode, and i haven’t yet mastered that semi-transformation like some kids around school have... do you have it down? or are your fins just naturally always out like that?

Bea took the note and looked at the paper for a little bit before writing a response. 

> My fins are always out. The partial transformation thing adds more scales, teeth, and bigger gills for sharks like me. Also the black eyes that roll back before we bite but most folks don't notice those as much. And I don't really have it down either, can't seem to get the right balance no matter how hard I try. It's either all shark or minimal shark.

> yep, same with me. it’s kinda too bad we both keep our distinctive markings even when in human mode. i’ve tried dying that white streak in my hair black, but the next time i transformed it just came back white again.

The skunk handed Bea the paper before snatching it back just a second later to write something she just thought of.

> do you drown in air if you go full-shark on land?

> No I don't drown on land, just have like half lung capacity and I'm slow as shit.

Bea thought for a second before adding a question of her own. 

> Skunks are kinda small, when you transform do you get smaller or do you stay the same size?

> stay about my usual size, maybe just a smidge smaller. idk, it’s been a while since i last fully transformed of my own free will and actually had time to appreciate it. silver wolf knows i’d never want anyone to see me in skunk form and have them take it as a sign of aggression.

> Guess I’m kinda lucky then, I get bigger and most folks think twice about tangling with me. But yeah, it’s best not to start shit for no reason. 

Bea glanced up to the chalkboard and eyed the notes written in white on the black board. There was nothing interesting, at least nothing interesting to Bea.

Saria’s eyes widened as she read the latest note.

> you get bigger? but you’re already

She looked over at her classmate. Trying to size her up was difficult as they were both sitting down.

> how tall are you again?

> Uh last time I checked I was somewhere around 6'2". I think I'm intimidating to most even without the shark features. 167 pounds of pure muscle, hell yeah. 

Bea was always a tad boastful about her innate strength and her height. She indeed enjoyed being large and intimidating, even if it did make her a tad lonely at times.

> good silver wolf, i can’t imagine you getting even bigger. no wonder we’re such good friends: everyone else is too scared to get near us haha

As Saria was handing the letter back, she thought she saw the teacher watching her pass the note to Bea from the corner of her eye.

> Yeah, I'm a big girl and you're a stinky girl. It's a perfect combination for a great friendship. 

Bea wasn’t nearly as observant as Saria was. She handed the note back without bothering to check if it was safe or not.

Saria began writing the second she read that little dig at her.

> hey, i am NOT stinky! you know i haven’t even sprayed since i was a kid, right? …i mean, i did only turn 18 this year. but still!

Right as the skunk was handing the slip of paper back to Bea, she was caught in the act. With vision like a hawk—despite not being one—the teacher snapped her head around the second Saria tried to hand the note across the aisle to the shark.

“Miss White!” the teacher called her out, prompting every student seated ahead of her in class to turn around and stare at Saria. “Passing notes in class?”

She immediately folded and confessed. “Yes ma’am, sorry ma’am,” she said pathetically, but it didn’t placate the middle-aged human woman. She was making her way toward the two beastmen.

Bea rolled her dark brown eyes as the teacher stomped towards them. This wasn’t the first time the shark had gotten yelled at or caught being a bad student, so she knew the whole song and dance. However, she also knew she was a beastman, and causing too much of a ruckus could be dangerous, so she bit back a loud and sarcastic comment despite really wanting to argue with the teacher. 

‘God what a bitch,’ the shark thought to herself.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve caught you passing notes with your buddy here during my class.” Not giving Saria time even to react, she snatched the paper from the girl’s paw. “What’s this say… ‘Hey, Bea, why don’t you meet me in the girls’ bathroom alone after class’?” the woman read aloud, prompting those who weren’t already uncomfortable from the confrontation to burst out laughing.

The skunk girl blushed a bright red in utter embarrassment. “Th-that was taken totally out of context!” she tried to defend herself to her classmates, but they didn’t seem to be listening.

“Hey, teach, wanna meet me in the girl’s bathroom after class as well? I got a thing for the bitchy types,” Bea said with a wide, shit-eating grin.

The shark welcomed the humiliation. Hell, she encouraged it. “But, yeah, real rude of you to leave out the best part of that note.”

The teacher seemed utterly shocked at Bea’s words. She’d heard the girl talk back quite a bit before, but never so directly and disrespectfully. The only person who seemed more shocked than the teacher was Saria, who simply couldn’t believe what her friend had just said. The entire class as well seemed to collectively be holding their breath after what the shark said.

For the time being, however, the woman seemed to be willing to play Bea’s game before ordering the student to the principal’s office. “Oh, yeah?” the lady said cockily. “And what part might that be?”

Saria felt as if she were on the verge of hyperventilating. She’d never seen such a showdown between Bea and a teacher on her behalf.

“You’s a teacher right? Read the fucking note yourself. You can read can’t you?” 

Bea scoffed, leaning forward and digging her small, neatly groomed claws into the desk. 

“But if you must know, I was talking about the part where all the hot girls in the class take turns shitting on my chest,” she said sarcastically, hoping to get more of a rise out of the teacher.

Ms. Thornberry did seem happy to play along at first, but after that vulgar display she was just at a loss for words. Even fellow students—especially the female ones—had stopped laughing, now seemingly more confused than anything. The teacher skimmed the relevant parts of the piece of paper and found no mentions of defecating on one’s chest.

“That’s enough out of you, great white,” the teacher half-teased, half-genuinely misremembered the girl’s species. “Both of you, upstairs to the principal’s office. I’ll be holding onto this”—she tucked the folded piece of paper into her shirt pocket—“until I meet you there after class.”

Saria dropped her head in shame, partially out of shame for getting caught and partially due to the fact that she was too shy to speak out against either the teacher or her best friend. Still, she stood up and waited for Bea to do the same.

“Suck my fucking dicks,” Bea said, spitting on the floor as she got up. “And leave Saria outta this. I’m the one who started passing these notes and comments. Poor thing wanted me to leave her alone, actually.” She narrowed her eyes, tone dropping slightly, “Unless you’re hellbent on punishing two out of the three beastmen in this class for something only one did.”

The human stepped closer to the shark, practically chest to chest despite being noticeably shorter herself. “Don’t you dare make this about beastmen and humans,” she warned the shark. “She was passing notes and you were extremely vulgar to a faculty member. You’ve both broken the rules, so you’ll both be punished.”

“Sh-she’s right,” Saria finally spoke up for the first time since she admitted to the misdeed of passing notes. “Let’s just go, Bea. Please…” She looked up at her friend with desperate, pleading eyes.

“Faculty could stand to be less like literal toddlers about shit like this. You’ve wasted everyone’s time by making a huge deal outta this instead of just ignoring it all. Fucking ridiculous, especially from an adult.” With that Bea laughed and turned to leave. She cared very little about the consequences of her actions, just so long as she got a reaction she was content. “Fine, Saria, I’ll let up.”

Saria gathered her bag and notebook and scurried out the door after Bea. “Why did you do that?!” the skunk whispered as they walked away from the classroom.

“Bored, plus I hate that bitch and wanted to see if I could piss her off enough to forget about your little transgression.” The shark shrugged, “Why’d you take all that sitting down? I would’ve told her to mind her own business.”

“B-because she was right!” Saria said. “I was passing notes when I wasn’t supposed to! That’s against the rules, and arguing would only make it worse—and it did!”

“Eh, a little detention for you maybe. I’m probably gonna get some academic review bullshit or whatever. But hey, it was her fault for making a mountain out of a molehill. Could’ve left us alone and called us up after class. Besides, I had everyone’s attention, I just had to go after her.”

“You can’t say that molehill saying anymore. It’s offensive,” Saria warned her. She was quiet for a moment as they walked before saying, “…What was that stuff about girls shitting on your chest? Was that intended to be a joke?”

“Mostly. I just wanted to see her get grossed out if I’m gonna be honest,” the shark cackled. “I don’t care about whether it was funny or not, I just wanted to see how far I could take it.”

“Well, you were swearing and discussing… ‘vulgar’ stuff right in front of the teacher, so I’m sure that’s just gonna make it even worse for you.” Just as the two girls were about to enter the principal’s office, the skunk stepped in front of the shark to stop her where she stood. “Listen, Bea, I can’t have you getting expelled on me. You’re my only real friend here, and if you get kicked out I’ll hardly have anyone left. You wouldn’t wanna do that to your ‘Stinky’, would you?” Just this once she indulged the nickname she generally hated.

Bea stared at the skunk for a moment before letting out a hearty laugh. “Alright, just for my Stinky I’ll try to avoid getting kicked out. I’ll say I’m sorry about telling the teacher to suck my dick and saying hot girls should shit on my chest when I get in there.” The shark girl winked at Saria before walking around her and into the principal’s office.

The door to the principal’s office was shut but the receptionist was waiting to greet them. The human behind the counter seemed terrified as Saria walked in, fearing the skunk was in trouble for spraying. She held her breath before it became clear that the air was not contaminated with the senior's foul odor. She sniffed after learning she was safe. “How can I help you two girls?” she asked with a smile.

“We both got in trouble with Ms. Thornberry. We were told to wait here until the bell rings so that she can meet with us and the principal.”

“Very well,” the receptionist nodded back. “Have a seat while you wait.”

Bea thankfully kept her mouth shut as she took a seat. The shark sat there quietly, bouncing her leg a little while she waited. She knew keeping quiet was probably the hardest part of not getting expelled. She knew that the second she opened her mouth she’d say something dumb and get in even more trouble.

“Look,” Saria rested her hand on Bea’s thigh, trying to calm down her bouncing leg, “let me do the talking, ok? I’m sure we can come up with an excuse to why you acted up. Did you sleep poorly? Are you in heat?”

“I haven’t eaten today, I guess? And my parents’ve been arguing about my college fund or whatever, so you could probably use that if you want,” Bea said, trying to think of anything else that could be used. “And I didn’t sleep poorly, but I didn’t sleep great either. Also I don’t have much of a heat cycle, but you can pin it on that if you like. I’m fairly shameless, so say whatever and I think I’ll be able to play along.” 

Bea slowed her bouncing leg, trying her best not to fidget too much. As with most sharks, she didn’t like being still too much.

“Oh, right. We probably shouldn’t go with heat. Sharks don’t really do that so it’d be sniffed out as a lie really quickly. Yeah, we’ll go with college stress, insomnia, and not eating. Anybody can understand how important food is to a shark, after all.”

Saria exhaled, trying to mentally convince herself she could handle this, when she noticed something. “Wait, you haven’t been sleeping well either? Are… Are your symptoms at all like mine?”

“Uh, probably not. I’m not waking up fully transformed or anything. I just keep waking up randomly throughout the night. Nothing major, though I do occasionally wake up with my tail out or an extra row of teeth, so maybe it’s something similar… But even if it is similar, it sounds like you have it way worse. Hell, I didn’t even give my issues much thought until right now.”

“Oh, Silver Wolf… I hope this isn’t a sign of something really bad.” Just then, the bell rang. Saria thought she’d calmed herself down, but when the bell rang and they officially didn’t have much time left, she felt herself starting to panic.

The shark was unbothered by the bell. “Insomnia, stress, and lack of food. That’s why I acted up,” She repeated to herself, committing it to memory so she wouldn’t slip up.

The skunk nodded. “Right, right…” She shut her eyes as she waited for the teacher they’d pissed off to arrive, which she did just a minute or two later.

“Everyone here now?” the receptionist said to Saria, Bea, and Ms. Thornberry as she opened the door for them.

Bea only nodded, trying not to make eye contact with anyone in the room. She so desperately wanted to pick up where she left off with Thornberry but knew that would probably get her expelled at this point. Silence was the key to this situation, and Bea hated being quiet and manageable.

The teacher led them into the room behind the receptionist. There, across the office room from them, sat a female wolf with pure white hair and tall, alert ears. It was pretty easy to imagine what the woman looked like when she fully transformed. She shut the small notebook she was writing in. “Hello, ladies,” she greeted them all at once. “I understand there was an argument. Please, sit.”

Bea once again sat without a word, though this time it was less painful, mostly because this wolf was a fairly pretty sight to stare at. Making any comments about it right now would be incredibly unwise. Still, it never hurt to look, now did it? Bea was careful not to stare for long as she checked out their principal, lest any questions were asked.

Saria and Bea took a seat on a pleather couch while the teacher sat down across from them. No one but the skunk seemed to catch on to Bea’s staring, so, while she had time, Saria lightly slapped the shark’s leg. She hoped that would be enough to convey the message to stop checking out the thirty-year-old woman. Bea took the hint and redirected her gaze to the floor.

“So,” the principal said, “who would like to start?” She rested her elbows on the surface of her desk and clasped her hands together, almost as if excited to dig into this.

“Bea and I were passing notes in class.”

“Passing notes?” the principal repeated. “That’s hardly an offense.”

Bea nodded as the principal spoke, agreeing that passing notes wasn’t a big deal. ‘Thornberry just has a stick up her ass as usual,’ the shark thought. She knew what was coming next and waited rather eagerly to see what was said about her earlier comments.

“It’s what Miss Bea here did next that’s the real reason we’re here,” the teacher said.

“Oh?” The white wolf directed her fascinated gaze at the shark. “Do tell.”

“Go on,” Thornberry goaded. “Repeat what you said to me.”

Bea took a deep breath. “I told Ms. Thornberry here that she’s a bitch and I’d meet her in the girls’ bathroom. Then I said some stuff about getting my chest shit on by pretty girls. Then I told her she was wasting her time with the notes and she was being unprofessional.” 

The shark looked up and tried her best not to crack a smile or laugh about it. This was serious, she kept reminding herself. Getting kicked out would be terrible.

The wolf stared at Bea for a couple, excruciating seconds, then burst out laughing. “Oh, stop it!” she giggled. “No, I mean what’d you actually say to her?”

“That is what she actually said to me.”

The wolf’s laughs slowed down. “…Seriously? Why?”

“’Cause she was digging into Saria for no reason over something stupidly trivial. I.e., a fucking note being passed between two students in the back of a class.” Bea winced as a few swears slipped out while explaining herself. “Like, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.”

“Watch it, young lady,” the wolf said sternly. “Using language like that in my office will only get you into more trouble. Understood? I won’t stand for it.” Thornberry seemed smugly pleased as she watched the beastman get yelled at by the principal.

“Sorry, ma’am. It won’t happen again.” This was the first apology Bea had issued all day, but she wasn’t about to go down without taking Thornberry with her. “Really, I acted up here because Ms. Thornberry was treating Saria really unfairly. Like, yeah, I got issues at home and stuff that definitely played into this, but the bottom line is that she was picking on my friend for something ridiculously insignificant.”

The principal thought for a moment. “You seem… very defensive of this girl next to you. Tell me, you two are”—she pointed back and forth between them—“an item?”

“Nah, I just don’t like it when folks pick on people who can’t really fight back.” Bea shot a glare at the teacher before turning back to the principal. “We were sitting in the back of the room and weren’t disrupting anything. She humiliated Saria in front of the class needlessly. Anybody would get upset if that happened to a close friend.”

“How is it humiliating simply to be called out for doing something like passing notes?”

“Because she didn’t just do that,” Saria spoke up to the principal for the first time. “She also read the private correspondence exchanged between myself and Bea out loud for the whole class.”

The wolf’s gaze shifted to the teacher in the room. “You did?” she asked in an accusatory tone, making the lady clam up a bit.

“Yeah, it’s absolutely ridiculous. Took stuff outta context as well to make them seem like dirty notes.” Bea crossed her arms but didn’t say anything more. Her point had been made, and it seemed like this argument had shifted in her favor. 

‘Quit while you’re ahead,’ Bea thought to herself, relishing in watching the teacher squirm in discomfort.

“What is it, if I may ask, that you read aloud, ma’am?” asked the white wolf.

The human reached into her breast pocket and withdrew the confiscated sheet of paper. She handed it over to the principal for her to read, which she did. “‘Hey, Bea, why don’t you meet me in the girls’ bathroom alone after class? I can show you this really cool thing I know how to do with my ass’… I don’t get it.” She lowered the paper. “You’re talking about anal, but you just told me you weren’t a couple.”

Bea snickered at the mention of anal but didn’t offer anything else to the conversation. Immaturity seemed to be what Bea did best. 

“No, ma’am,” Saria said respectfully. “I’m a skunk. I was making a joke about spraying her. It says in the next line that I am of course joking.”

“Oh, you’re a skunk!” the principal exclaimed, the whole puzzle seemingly fitting together for her now. “I get it. See, I thought you were just a cat. Your ears are quite similar… Yeah, I see it now. That piece of information gives context to a lot that’s written in here.”

“Yeah, she’s a skunk, and for the record,” Bea turned to stare at Ms. Thornberry, “I’m a mako shark, not a great white. I don’t even look like a great white.”

The principal flashed Thornberry a look of disappointment. No doubt the teacher was feeling the heat as the only non-beastman in the room.

“Ms. Thornberry,” the wolf finally said, “I can’t have you disrespecting a beastman student of ours like that. What Bea said was out of line, but your response was just as inappropriate.” She folded up the piece of paper the two girls had written on. “I’d call this just about even now. Ms. Thornberry, you’re dismissed. Go get ready for your next class. Now I’d like a moment alone with the two girls, if that's alright.”

Bea offered the teacher a sharky grin and leaned back in her chair. Clearly the Silver Wolf was feeling generous today: she hadn’t even needed to act like she was sorry about what she said. Still, she figured pushing her luck would be unwise, so she decided to force herself to stop smiling.

Though she seemed at first like she was going to defend herself, once she received one stern look from the principal, Thornberry gave up. She left the room with her head hung low and shut the door behind herself.

“I’m sorry you two ladies had to deal with that,” the principal said. “Clearly she still has some way to go in her sensitivity to beastmen. Thank you both for your patience with her.”

“Oh, no worries. I figured she singled us out ’cause of that,” Bea shrugged, remembering what had been said earlier about not making this into a beastmen and human thing. 

The shark only really felt bad for Saria. The poor thing hadn’t really done much wrong. Bea knew she’d stepped out of line with her comments, but really Thornberry had had it coming.

The wolf opened her small notebook again and resumed writing in it. “How have you girls been feeling as beastmen in this school as of late?” she asked, not looking up from where she was writing. “We’ve been seeing a rise in anti-beastman sentiment across the country as of late. As a whole it hasn’t been anything too severe, but there have definitely been some cases that are… well, tragic. Have you two been ok?”

“Well, I’m speaking only for myself but I’m feeling alright here. There’s a bit of tension, but nothing too bad.” The shark shrugged, genuinely not feeling much of the pressure from the rising tensions. “So yeah I’ve been alright.”

“I-I haven't been great,” Saria said quietly. “I’ve been noticing more hostility from other students here in the past month.”

“Really?” the principal said, looking up from her notebook. “Such as what?”

“A few times I’ve walked into the bathroom while there were a few human girls inside chatting. The second I entered, though, they stopped talking and just kinda stared at me. I-it made me feel like I didn’t belong.” She felt bad divulging this now, as she’d never told Bea, her best friend, about it before. She was too afraid that the rash shark would just take matters into her own hands and only worsen the situation. “Another time, I was walking down the hall and there was a group of human boys coming from the opposite direction. As I passed by them, one turned his shoulder and slammed me into the lockers. I heard the rest of them snicker as they just kept on walking…”

Bea raised an eyebrow as Saria spoke. This was definitely the first she’d heard of this. Perhaps she’d have to pay a visit to those humans and teach them a lesson. 

Bea was mildly surprised she hadn’t been the target of harassment as much as Saria had been. Perhaps the species difference between the two had dissuaded humans from picking on her as much.

“Those sound… very serious. Have you reported any of these to administration?”

The skunk shook her head. “I-I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. And I still don’t.”

“Have you noticed… anything else apart from this bullying?”

“I haven’t been sleeping very well lately,” Saria admitted. “I keep waking up transformed, so I think I’ve been having nightmares. Uh, Bea said she’s been experiencing something similar…?”

“Yeah, but I’m only partially transforming. Mostly just waking up with my tail out.” To make a point, Bea’s tail materialized behind her. The thick appendage thumped against the floor. “Not the bullying thing, though. Guess folks aren’t bothering me ’cause of my species.”

“Hm,” the wolf said. “You could unconsciously be picking up on your friend’s anxieties, or maybe you’re just as spooked as the rest of us by all the recent reports of Nirvasyl Syndrome breaking out across America.”

“Oh, right. That’s a thing.” Bea had honestly forgotten about that whole Nirvasyl Syndrome issue, distracted by the sea of other problems. “High-stress beastmen get it right?”

The principal nodded. “Especially when in very high contact with beastmen of different species. That’s why the formation of beastmen-only ‘ghettos’ is so strictly forbidden."

“Huh, alright then,” Bea shrugged. She wasn’t really worried about the breakouts. After all, they did have something akin to a cure for it.

“That has been worrying me,” Saria admitted. “A lot of the recent ones have been happening in areas with low beastmen density, right? What if that happens to me? What if it’s already happening to me, and that’s why I've been waking up transformed lately? Isn’t loss of sleep a symptom of psychological stress?!”

“You’re stressing yourself out right now, jeez,” Bea said. “Calm down. I doubt sleep deprivation is a symptom. Isn’t it just a random and violent transformation? Not a lotta buildup? Besides, if that’s a symptom, then that means I have it too.”

Saria gasped. “It’s infectious—!”

“Calm down!” the wolf principal barked at them, but mostly Saria. “I’m sure both of you are going to be fine. There haven’t yet been any cases of Nirvasyl in our area, so I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you two… Although, Saria, if I may ask one thing, please try very hard not to contract the syndrome. I’ve read the recent reports of what it does to skunks and I can just say… it’s very unpleasant.” She cracked a smile.

“Heh, big stinky,” Bea mumbled under her breath. “Right, so it’s not really a concern though? Like, there’s better things to worry about then?” The shark was somewhat annoyed about this while Nirvasyl Syndrome stuff and viewed it more as a weakness then a legitimate ailment.

“Exactly,” the wolf said. “Worry about the things that actually matter and are under your control: grades, family, bullying. Saria, next time someone treats you poorly, I want you to come right to me, understood?”

The skunk nodded despite the fact that she didn’t plan on doing any such thing. She didn’t like to make a big stink out of things, in more ways than one.

“Right, you’re both free to get on with your next class then.”

Bea nodded and stood up with a quiet grunt. “Thank you, principal. Sorry for causing all this trouble.”

She dipped her head in respect and headed towards the door and waited for Saria. They were both late for their second class of the day, but Bea was in no rush because of that. She just wanted to get out of the principal’s office before they decided to bring in her terrible student record.

  
———

  
Hours later, Saria sat down with her tray of lunch across from the shark and sighed. She’d since gone from complete exhaustion, due to the lack of sleep, to irritability and tiredness. She stared at her food for a second before suddenly groaning and dropping her head in her hands. “Dammit! I just remembered I have to stay after school today to paint the set for the school play.”

“Oh, that sucks. I’m in a similar boat, though. I have to stay for football practice. Coach is making us do conditioning this week. If I wasn’t busy I’d offer to help, but yeah.” Bea continued shoveling food into her mouth, not bothering to think too much about how it tasted.

“Remind me what position you play?” Saria asked. She felt a bit like a bad friend for not knowing, but then again the two of them almost never talked about sports. Saria eyed the coffee machine in the corner of the cafeteria, thinking about grabbing her fourth cup of the day.

“Linebacker, but occasionally I’ll play defense,” Bea said, placing her fork down on the tray. “What’s the play about?” The two didn’t seem to talk much about things they didn’t have in common, which included their extracurricular activities, it seemed.

She shrugged. “Something about a modern Alice in Wonderland, I dunno. I’m just tasked with set design. Hey, is it Thursday or Friday?”

“Friday, why?”

“Wanna go back to my place when you’re done with practice and I’m done with painting? My parents are gonna be gone this weekend, so we can hang out, order pizza, whatever.”

“That sounds great. I could definitely vibe with that,” Bea nodded. “Want me to bring money and stuff? Ya know, for all the pizza I’ll probably eat?”

“Yeah, if you’re ok with it we can split the cost. Do you also have a change of clothes in your locker, in case you get sweaty at practice?”

“Yeah, I usually carry a couple changes of clothing in my duffel bag. Not only ’cause I get sweaty, but ’cause I tend to be messy anyways.” She chuckled.

“Wait, sports are usually played in animal form, right? You said you get even bigger when you transform, so that must mean you wear clothes that are, what, size XL?”

“Yeah, XXL. Sharks aren’t small. Well, except for lemon sharks and nurse sharks, but makos tend to be fairly sizable.” She pushed her now empty tray aside, “Why, you wanna borrow a change of clothes?”

“No, no. I was just asking because, well, I don’t play sports, so I never have a reason to stay in animal form for all that long—well, except for the Animal Day Festival, but that’s just a few hours every year.”

“Ah, fair enough. Guess I do get to be in my animal form a lot more since I play football… When is that festival? I kinda miss walking around as a shark amongst other beastmen, you know?”

“It’s not until later this month, but I’ve heard rumors it may be postponed or cancelled due to the recent breakouts of Nirvasyl Syndrome. After all, if big crowds of beastmen seem to trigger it, the Animal Day Festival is basically a breeding ground for Nirvasyl.”

“Damn, that’s a fucking shame,” Bea said, crossing her arms and scowling. Must everything she enjoyed be tainted by that damned Nirvasyl Syndrome? Those damn afflicted beastmen needed to simply be more resilient to something as petty as stress. “Ah well, maybe next year then.”

“I mean, it’s still legal to be in beast mode all the time. No one can really stop you, well unless teachers have a policy against it. The only big consequence is other beastmen may take your appearance as a sign of aggression.”

“Eh, it’s not as fun when I have to dodge other beastmen. Though I have been itching for a good fight, so maybe…” Bea trailed off, thinking about having a good brawl. There wasn’t a reason to do so, but the shark definitely wanted to let off some steam.

“Bea, please…” the skunk begged. “You’re free to be in animal mode all you want, but please don’t do anything to get yourself kicked out of school. There’s only, like, one other person here who is actually willing to talk to me, so please don’t…”

“Eh, fair enough. This school is far too fucking restrictive with letting me enjoy all that being a beastmen offers,” Bea half-joked. “Anyways, it is what it is at this point, I suppose. I’ll just settle for cracking skulls during scrimmages then.”

“Hey, you get to play sports on the beastmen varsity team,” Saria pointed out. “That’s a pretty beastmen-specific activity, isn’t it? It’s a privilege you have that humans don’t.”

“More like opportunity rather than a privilege,” she mumbled. “You really think humans are vying for the chance to play football in a league full of beastmen?” She tapped her neatly filed claws against the cheaply made cafeteria tables.

“Well, of course not. They’d be crushed by all the rhinos, hippos, bulls, and sharks like yourself. That’s something you can do that they can’t!”

“And they’re allowed to walk around as their authentic selves without worry. Plus they don’t need to worry about regulating their moods to avoid getting some weird syndrome that makes them go crazy. It’s hardly a privilege to be a big, bulky animal in a society built for humans. But I guess I can’t blame the bastards for it. If I could be in control of everything I probably wouldn’t wanna feel threatened either.”

“They’re not in control of everything…” Saria weakly argued. “We have some beastmen in government. Hell, the principal here is a beastman. We’re not totally voiceless.”

“Yeah, that’s how they get ya. Not enough representation to get you anywhere, but just enough to feel like you’re being represented: a virtually symbolic victory.” Bea grinned and leaned back in her chair. “I may be a total meathead, but I’m not stupid.”

“A-and you think I’m stupid for believing that we actually do have a voice?” Saria asked, a bit defiant against her friend. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Who said anything about you being stupid? I’m just saying that people write me off ’cause I’m muscly and vulgar. I’m in a couple honors classes, but ain’t no one wanna acknowledge that.” 

Bea shrugged, “We have a bit of a voice. I just think we’re being carefully excluded from being able to make any type of halfway decent legislation in our favor. But yeah, believe whatever, that’s just my take on this.”

Saria sighed as she finished her food, and seconds later the bell signifying the end of lunch period rang. The skunk picked up her empty tray. “Meet me in the theatre when you’re done with practice? If I’m not done painting yet you can hang out in the seats and do homework or something.”

“Sounds good. See you then.” Bea picked up her tray and dumped it into the appropriate bin. After that, she headed towards the lockers to get her bag and some books for her next class.


	2. Extracurriculars

Several hours later, school had ended, Bea was done with football practice, and Saria was still in the theatre. The skunk girl had been playing some music out loud from her phone as she worked, so she didn’t quite hear as her friend walked in.

“Hey Saria, you in here?” Bea shouted as she entered the theatre, her duffel bag slung over her shoulder. 

She’d showered and changed, so she didn’t stink of sweat and mud. The only thing that gave away the fact that she’d been at practice were the beginnings of several new bruises that’d appeared on her arms and legs.

“Yeah, down here!” Saria called from the stage after shutting her music off. “You’re right on time! I actually just finished painting.” The girl emerged from behind a large tree set piece. She approached the front of the stage and hopped off to meet her friend. "Will you come with me to the art room to put away these brushes and paint? Then we can get going."

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” Bea said as she helped gather up some of the paints and brushes. “Nice work with the painting,” the shark added, admiring the skunk’s work.

“Thank you!” Saria replied sweetly. “Might be some of my best work.”

The theatre student began pondering dinner plans as they walked down the hall, her art supplies in her hand. “Hey, Bea, what sort of toppings do you—?”

“Fucking _bullshit_!” a monstrously loud voice boomed from down the hall, cutting Saria off mid-sentence. It was followed by a much quieter and calmer voice saying something that neither of the girls could make out from their distance. More of the loud voice then followed. It was seemingly growing more and more agitated by the second.

“Huh,” Bea said, turning slightly to hear better. “But to answer your earlier question, anchovies and chicken are my favorite.” Sharks were not known for their excellent hearing, so no matter how hard Bea strained, she couldn’t seem to understand anything that was being said.

The room that would be the source of the shouting stood between the two girls and the art room. Though Saria had stopped dead in her tracks at the sudden shout, she finally resumed walking. Eventually, she and Bea came upon the door that led into the classroom that held the argument. It became obvious quickly what was going on: a bull student was yelling at a human teacher for refusing to round up his D+ to a C-.

The skunk thought she recognized the kid. “Hey, Bea,” she whispered to her friend as they both stared into the room from the door, which had been left open a crack. “Isn’t that guy on your football team?”

“Yeah, that’s Brett. Funnily enough, he was just talking earlier about how his grades were shit. If you do badly enough in class they kick you off the team.” Bea eyed him up. He was a big guy—bigger than she was. “But we shouldn’t get involved. Probably isn’t our place.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Just as soon as Saria got finished saying that, however, the student shoved his teacher into the chalkboard. The teacher, after bouncing off of it, shoved the kid, who had in that brief moment entered animal mode, back into the desks. Things were clearly escalating very fast.

“Ah, for fuck’s sake,” Bea groaned before placing the paints and brushes down. With a snarl, she pushed the door open. “ _Hey_! Dude, what the actual fuck? You’re definitely gonna get kicked off the fucking team for this shit, asshole.”

As the bull recovered from being tossed into the students’ desks and looked at who had just entered the room, it was immediately obvious he’d changed. As he’d collapsed, he grew in size and his fur turned much darker. He was staring now at Bea with crazed, red eyes with black pupils. Purple vein-like structures glowed from under his fur.

“What the hell?!” the teacher, Mr. Okama, cried at the sight of his student’s new state. Luckily for Bea, this little outburst was enough to draw Brett’s attention away from the shark. He immediately lunged at his teacher and gored Okama through the neck with one of his horns, which had also increased in both size and sharpness. The horn jabbed all the way through the teacher’s throat and pushed him as far back as he would, the tip of the now-bloodied horn stuck in the blackboard like a dart in a dartboard. Blood immediately sprayed out over the clothes of the three inside the room. The teacher wasn’t even given the chance to scream before his voice box was eviscerated.

Saria, who’d been watching on in horror, quickly identified the situation from the dozens of horrifying videos she’d seen of it online recently. “Nirvasyl!!” she shouted to her friend. “Bea, get the fuck out of there!!” Without even realizing it, she too had entered animal form as she watched the gory situation unfold.

“I… Uh…” Bea stuttered, watching the teacher twitch and writhe uselessly against the beast’s horn. This was definitely not what she’d expected from this. She’d expected a fist fight, but not an all-out murder scene. 

The shark took a few shaky steps back, eyes darting between the beast and the fresh corpse hanging from its horn. The stench of blood filled Bea’s nostrils and without thinking she transformed almost fully before turning around and bolting from the room.

The shark’s rapid footsteps unfortunately distracted the bull from his ex-teacher and made him focus on the two girls that were running as fast as they could from the exorbitantly violent scene. Saria and Bea got a few seconds’ headstart as Brett fought to tear his horn not only out of the teacher but from the chalkboard. As soon as he was free, however, he charged full-speed after them.

As they descended a flight of stairs to get away from the crime scene, a loud boom was heard as the bull charged out of the classroom, across the hall, and straight into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. After taking a couple more seconds to yank himself out of the indentation his now-massive body left in the drywall, he sprinted after Bea and Saria.

Bea wasn’t all that fast, and she was already gasping for breath due to her somewhat decreased lung capacity that came with her transformation. Though her muscles rippled under her sharp blue and white scales as she ran, she was seriously doubting her own strength in this situation. She wasn’t positive if she could fight off her former teammate in his new, monstrous form. 

Some shark she was, she thought, spooked by a little blood and a big bull. If she survived this, she knew she’d be the laughing stock of every shark beastman from here to New Anima.

“In here!” Saria shouted as she led the shark into the theatre. As if out of a cartoon, the second she shut the door behind Bea, two huge, black horns ripped through the wooden door, implanting themselves in the oak. She didn’t waste any time as the bull worked to remove himself. “This way!” she took the shark by the hand and yanked her toward the set she’d just recently painted.

“W–we can’t keep running from him!” Bea wheezed. “We gotta stop him before he punches holes in the both of us!” 

As Bea followed Saria, she quietly tried to form some sort of plan. “How about if I grab him by the horns? You think I could take him? Even for a little bit?”

“I doubt it! Did you seem him?!” Saria panted. “What we really have to do is call 911, but we have to buy time first. Here, help me move this to barricade the door.” There was a grand piano just beside the door they’d used to enter the theatre. The significantly smaller and weaker skunk desperately began trying as hard as she could to move it as the bull winded up for another charge at the door, but it didn’t move an inch.

“That might slow him down, but it won’t stop him! _I_ could smash a piano if I wanted!” Bea gently placed a large webbed hand on Saria’s shoulder. “You call the cops. I’m gonna shove shit in front of the door until I genuinely have to wrestle that son of a bitch down.” She got to work shoving the piano first.

Saria knew Bea was right and that a piano wouldn’t stop the rampaging bull. Starting to tear up from fear, she nodded to her friend before running over to her phone, which still sat in the same place it did when it was playing music as she painted. Just as she hit the call button after punching in those three numbers, she heard a massive crash of wood as the bull finally broke through the door and found himself confronted by a piano that stood between himself and the mako shark.

“Aha! Come get some, you overgrown lump of ground beef!” Bea yelled, trying her best to keep the bull’s attention off her friend. Without missing a beat, she allowed herself to morph further, some of her clothes ripping at the seams and shredding as her already bulky form increased in size. With a deep roar, she gripped the piano, lifted it, and brought it crashing down onto the bull’s thick skull.

Though the bull was knocked down by the force of the heavy instrument, he didn’t seem any less determined to destroy Bea and her friend. After a second of being down, he popped back up through the painted black wood of the piano, sending splinters all over the stage.

‘911, what is your emergency?’ came the voice through Saria’s phone.

“Hello!” she panted desperately. “We have a case of Nirvasyl Syndrome at Springcreek Integrated High School!”

‘Are you sure it’s Nirvasyl, ma’am?’ Just then, the beast of a bull belted a deafeningly loud roar before charging head-first into Bea. The roar was picked up by the skunk’s cell phone. ‘We’ll be dispatching a special response team immediately, ma’am.’ She then proceeded to give Saria some hopeful-at-best, naive-at-worst recommendations on how to survive the attack.

Bea’s optimistic hope that she’d deterred the bull was cut short as the beast charged her. The contact drove what little breath was left in the shark’s lungs out of her lungs, and a sickening, wet crack could be heard coming from her chest. Ah, definitely not good, she thought to herself as she was thrown backward and collided painfully with the stage.

Despite the searing agony and breathlessness, Bea found herself growing enraged at this monster. Without another word, she staggered to her feet and charged the beast with renewed hatred and rage.

When the bull lowered its head in hopes that the shark would gore herself, he didn’t account for the possibility of Bea sliding on the floor just before making contact with him and knocking his feet out from under him. As her legs collided with his, he came crashing down on her and something of a wrestling match ensued.

The bull was definitely stronger, but Bea was far more nimble—a position she was fairly unaccustomed to. All Bea wanted was to keep the bull semi-under control so it couldn’t hurt anyone else. 

With a loud hiss, Bea opened her imposing and toothy jaws before angrily biting and tearing at any flesh she could get in her mouth. The bull’s skin was tough, but not impenetrable. Bea needed whatever leverage she could get to avoid getting gored or trampled.

A foul, brown mist sprayed from the bull’s left arm as Bea clamped down on it. It appeared that Nirvasyl Syndrome even changed the taste and coloration of the fluid that ran through Brett’s veins.

Unfortunately for the shark, biting just one of the bull’s arms wouldn’t be enough. He cocked back his right arm before launching it directly into the center of her chest, sending her flying off of him (a chunk of arm meat still in her mouth), colliding with the ceiling, and falling back down with a hard thud a few feet away from him. As the bull clambered to his feet, it seemed he had adjusted his focus to a different girl in the room.

There was very little Bea could do to recover from such a vicious blow, and she lay crumpled on the ground. She was stunned and probably suffering from quite a few fractures and internal injuries. A few of her teeth were also missing and blood trickled from her nostrils. She lay there, wheezing and broken as she tried to muster up the strength to haul herself up.

“Bea, hold your nose!” Saria warned as she lifted her tail. Despite the clear warning sign, the skunk desperately wanted not to spray. She found the smell of her musk almost as revolting as anyone else did, and skunks had a natural instinct to preserve their spray if they at all could.

Bea gurgled something unintelligible about her nose being shattered and her senses clouded. The skunk’s musk at this point would probably smell like shit to the shark, but it most likely wouldn’t overwhelm her.

Tail still in the air, the girl climbed up the ladder on the back of the giant tree set piece. The bull ran his horns through one of the ladder’s lower rungs just as Saria’s foot left it. She continued to climb as fast as she could to the top. Of course, if the football player simply collapsed the set piece entirely, it would be game over for her anyway.

The bull pulled himself loose and ran head-first into the wooden prop yet again. There was a loud crash, and boards of wood fell loose from the big, false tree. One more hit and Saria would fall for sure. Though she’d likely survive the fall from six or seven feet up, she didn’t anticipate Brett being as forgiving. Just as she finished a final prayer to the Silver Wolf, the furious voice of an angel rang out.

“Hands where I can see ’em!” Saria and the bull both turned to see two cops standing in the entrance to the theater. One had what seemed to be a tranquilizer gun while the other looked to have a traditional firearm.

The bull didn’t seem as elated about their arrival as Saria was. He began to charge at them both, prompting the one holding the dart gun fired countless times.

Bea heard the call and thanked the Silver Wolf for deciding that neither her nor Saria seemed fated to die today. With a wheeze, the shark forced herself to stand and stagger toward the charging bull. She couldn’t let their only chance of salvation get gored. 

“Hey, asshole!” She called, stooping to pick up a bit of debris which she flung weakly at the beast.

“Ma’am, please stand down!” one of the officers yelled from the top of the steps leading down to the stage. The bull looked over his shoulder and grunted at Bea, but continued his charge at the police officers.

Bea didn’t need to be told twice. Perhaps for the first time in literal years, the shark obeyed an order without question and stayed right where she was standing.

As the rampaging bull was jabbed full of more and more darts full of sedative, his steps slowed, and he eventually collapsed onto the steps, no rounds of traditional ammunition needing to be fired.

Seeing as the danger appeared to be eliminated, Saria then began to nervously descend the ladder of the set piece she’d been hiding on top of.

Bea shakily raised her hands in a thumbs up motion before letting her arm go limp once more.

A few more people entered the theatre as the original two officers descended on Bea and Saria, guns now put away. The new additions to the room placed the bull on a stretcher, but not before restraining him heavily with tight metal bands. They then injected some serum before carrying him off.

Saria walked up beside Bea and pulled her into a hug. The skunk had started crying, terribly shaken up by the whole ordeal.

Bea let out a small grunt of pain. “Please don’t squeeze me. My ribs feel like they were fucking shattered.” She looked around the destroyed theatre, feeling somewhat numb to the horror of the whole encounter. “Well, at least we’re alive, I guess.”

“I’m so fucking sorry,” the skunk cried, letting go of her. “Th-this is all my fault. I’m the one who had to return the art supplies…”

“H-how? I’d probably have passed that way anyways. Hardly your fault the fucker lost control and killed someone. Besides, my whole broken bones thing is because I’m cocky and wanted to play the hero.” She let out a wheezy laugh.

Saria laughed along as they were approached. “You two girls ok?” one asked. Now that they were closer it was easy to tell that the policemen were both humans.

“Please revert back to your human forms,” the other said, “for everyone’s safety.”

“If I move I will fucking pass out, so for _my_ safety I’m gonna be like this for a second,” Bea grumbled, wincing slightly.

The cops looked at each other, a little uncomfortable, but allowed Bea to remain as she was. Saria, on the other hand, was busy forcing herself to transform back into human, which just took a second or two for her to do.

“Paramedics will be here in just a minute to examine you, ma’am,” one said to Bea. “Can we help you sit down?”

“I wouldn’t mind sitting, so sure. Though be careful about the scales; They’re sharp if you rub them the wrong way.” Bea figured it’d only be polite to warn the officers about it. The shark did her best not to sway as the officers helped her sit. Being off her feet felt great, but her chest still ached terribly.

“Are you uninjured?” the other asked Saria, who promptly nodded. The human sniffed the air, then flashed her a grateful smile as he realized the skunk girl hadn’t sprayed.

Saria sat down next to Bea. When the paramedics finally approached, the skunk was busy wiping tears out of her own eyes while the shark looked stone-faced but badly wounded. It was easy for them to identify which was physically and which was mentally damaged. One wrapped a gray blanket around Saria as the other two examined Bea’s chest. “Definitely at least a couple cracked ribs,” one of them said to another.

“Great, I’ll be off the team then. And I was doing so well this season too,” Bea joked. “Anyways, doc how long do you figure it’ll take to heal? I’m not tryna be stuck in bed all month if I can help it.”

“Well, you beastmen are pretty hardy. You seem to heal much more quickly than us humans. So long as you don’t do anything too physical, you’ll probably be healed up after just a few days. Do you have any major pain anywhere else?”

“My nose is all smashed up and my back hurts, but I think that’s it.” Bea wanted to shrug but knew it’d only cause a fresh wave of agony if she did. “Basically I’m just sore from being tossed around.”

One of the paramedics grabbed Bea’s nose and squeezed it rather uncomfortably. “Not broken,” he said, “just bloody.”

“Do me a favor,” the original paramedic said. “Transform back into human mode.”

“Fine, but when I black out from the pain that’s on you, doc.” Once the shark morphed back into her mostly human form, the sudden movement caused a jolt of burning back to spread throughout her chest and she grit her teeth. 

“There? Happy now?” she spat at the paramedic, slightly angry that they couldn’t seem to treat a beastman properly.

He didn’t act fazed by Bea’s passive-aggressive demeanor. “You won’t have to go to the hospital so long as you just spend a few days in human form without shifting back so you don’t agitate your fractures. You beastmen are lucky you have such remarkable healing times.”

Bea didn’t feel all too lucky, but figured she should be grateful she wasn’t dead. Still, it was unfair she’d have to be stuck in a human form for so long. “Yeah guess we are lucky in that regard. Guess it could’ve been a lot worse.”

“Oh,” Saria spoke up, “by the way, not all that blood on his horns is hers. If you go to room 204 you’ll find a dead Mr. Akamo.”

“Investigators already found him,” a human detective said as he approached the two girls. “It’s really tragic. All across this country, I don’t think we’ve seen a single case of Nirvasyl Syndrome that didn’t end with at least one person dead.” He knelt in front of Saria and Bea while the paramedics walked away. “Do either of you two girls know what could’ve instigated this?”

“Fucker was upset cause the teacher wouldn’t round up his grade. He got violent, and the teacher fought back. Then the dude when absolutely apeshit,” Bea muttered, wiping some of the half-congealed blood from under her nose. “We confronted him and he absolutely lost it. Killed the teach and then tried to off us. Pretty fucked up, ain’t it?”

“You can’t say apeshit anymore,” Saria whispered. “It’s offensive.”

“That is… quite ‘fucked up’,” the investigator agreed. “And it’s really terrible to hear. No reports of Nirvasyl Syndrome had appeared in our area since this outbreak started… until now. I’m sorry you two ladies had to be victims of the very first one in our city. But hey, at least you survived. You’re now part of a very small group of people who can say you actually lived through a Nirvasyl attack.”

“Wonder if putting that on a T-shirt would be in poor taste…” Bea said, turning to Saria. “So, we still doing pizza tonight or is that off ’cause of all this?” The shark wasn’t much of a fan of dwelling on things, especially things that caused her worry or pain. Avoiding an issue by burying it under layers of sarcasm and stoicism might not be healthy, but Bea hadn’t had any problems so far, so it must be alright

“Uh, y-yeah, sure,” Saria nodded. “Especially if you don’t need to go to the hospital, we can just get going.” The skunk stood up.

“You two have been a huge help,” the investigator said. “And you’re really brave for actually making it through that.” He reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a small object. “Here’s my business card if you think of something else pertinent or see another incident like this. Now, if you ask me, you’ve earned that pizza.” The big human let out a hearty laugh.

“Fuck yeah, I’m gonna eat a whole pizza tonight and no one is gonna be able to stop me,” Bea said triumphantly as she finally stood back up. Her chest ached, but overall it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been earlier.

Saria laughed along, tucking the card into her pocket. “C’mon, my car’s out front.”


	3. Pizza

Not long after the two girls got home and had their pizza delivered, there was another knock at the door. It came so shortly after the food drop-off that Saria assumed as she walked to the door that the delivery driver had just forgotten to give them a side like breadsticks. As she got closer to the front door and saw a shape that was distinctly not that of their hyena pizza man, however, Saria started to get a feeling she knew who else it could be.

“Who the fuck could that be?” Bea asked in her usual foulmouthed manor as she opened her pizza box and beamed greedily, helping herself to the fresh and still-warm pizza. Her body still ached from the scuffle earlier, but for the most part the shark seemed rather unbothered by her earlier beatdown at the hands of that bull.

Saria sighed and swung the door open. She greeted the boy loudly enough for Bea to hear who it was. “Hey, Aaron,” she said less than enthusiastically.

Aaron was a human boy in their grade who had something of an obsession with beastmen. Most in school tried to avoid him or make it expressly known that they weren’t interested in indulging his affinity, but Saria was too polite to ever directly turn him away. As such, he had become one of her few friends in school ever since he joined freshman year, and she had become just about his only ‘subject’.

“Were you and Bea seriously attacked by someone with Nirvasyl?!” he exclaimed, inviting himself into Saria’s house and proceeding into the living room. He stopped, however, when he saw the shark beastman on the couch. Bea was one of the beastmen whose nervous Aaron had gotten on. In fact, she may have been the most infamous example, as she once slammed him up against a locker and bared her teeth in his face after one time when he felt Saria’s tail without permission. Ever since that day, he’d gone out of his way to avoid Bea whenever possible, instead focusing his fascination on other beastman classmates. “Oh… Hey, Bea,” he said.

“Hey Aaron. Pleasure to see you again,” She growled, her voice practically dripping with ire. She’d made her dislike for Aaron all too clear already. Thankfully for the irritating human, she’d used up all her energy today and didn’t feel like roughing him up. Though, she wasn’t about to let him do whatever the hell he wanted. She made that clear with a far too toothy smile and a cold glare at him.

The human nervously turned back around to look at the far kinder girl as she caught up with him in the living room. “Yeah, we were,” Saria answered his question. Her tone sounded a little irritated, but not enough for the oblivious boy to pick up on it.

“That’s _so_ cool!” he exclaimed. “I mean, scary, but also so cool.” He sniffed the air. “Did you already wash off the smell of your spray?”

For a skunk, questions about spraying were generally considered intimate as it related to a private area of the body. She uncomfortably shifted her weight between her feet. “What? No. I didn’t spray him.”

“You didn’t?!” he shouted, incredulous. “But, y-you’re a skunk! That’s how you defend yourself!”

“Hey, Aaron, ever had your arm broken?” Bea asked as she shoved almost a whole slice of pizza into her maw. Her irritation was slowly mounting, and the shark wasn’t too keen on allowing this conversation to continue much further.

He immediately jumped behind Saria and cowered behind her. “Y-yes,” he said nervously. “Once, when I was five. Why?”

“Unless you’re keen on reliving that memory, quit talking about spraying.” Bea snarled through her mouthful of pizza. It was just her luck that once she got the chance to settle down, some annoying human would start to bother her and Saria.

He sighed and stepped out from behind the skunk. “Right…” he said, averting his gaze down. “I’m sorry, Saria… Heh, I’m sorry-a.”

She ignored the incredibly lame wordplay of her name. She’d heard it a thousand times before anyway. “It’s fine,” she said, walking over to a couch beside Bea and sitting down. Aaron was left standing.

“Is it also true that it was a member of Bea’s football team?” the human asked.

“Yeah, it’s a shame cause he wasn’t a bad player. Guy was just dumb as a pile of a rocks.” Bea shrugged, helping herself to another slice of pizza. “Dude lost it after he was told that his grade couldn’t be rounded up and, well, yeah. You’ve probably heard about what happened afterwards.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s all over social media. People are posting pictures of the destruction in the theatre and hallway.” Aaron sat down opposite the two girls and pulled out his phone before swiping over to the notes app. “Do you know if he was under any stress, Bea?” he asked, sounding like an investigator.

“I mean, yeah. He would’ve been kicked off the team if his grade wasn’t rounded up. Plus, the general stress of being a beastman in a human world probably took a toll on him.” Bea grumbled as she glared at Aaron for longer. “Now shut the fuck up Sherlock and let me enjoy my goddamn dinner.”

He quieted down as he typed some things into his notes. Not wanting his arm broken, he directed his next question to the nice one. “Saria, what did he look like once he transformed?”

She stopped to think for a moment. She even considered herself telling Aaron to fuck off just as bluntly as Bea did. It was too against her nature, she finally decided. She couldn’t do it. “Well, he was so much bigger. And darker, too—his fur was almost completely black. He also had these glowing, purple veins all over his body. Oh, and his eyes were red, too.”

“A lot stronger, too,” Bea added. “Dude smashed through a couple doors and, like, most of the stage and the hallways.” Bea avoided admitting that she got her ass soundly handed to her on a silver platter during the fight. “Didn’t really have time to look too hard at the guy, considering he was tryna fucking kill us.”

Saria sighed and dropped her head into her paws. “Silver Wolf, I’d just finished painting that whole thing. Now it’s wrecked…”

Aaron didn’t seem interested in Saria’s grief. “This is the first ever Nirvasyl attack we’ve had in Springcreek,” he said. “Nationally, there are only about ten or twenty every year. It’s only August now, but there have been almost a hundred attacks so far this year. Now what could link Brett to the other ninety?”

“You know, perhaps I’ll make that shit ninety-one if you don’t shut your fucking ass up!” Bea snapped in a mockingly cheerful tone before turning to her friend. “And yeah, Saria, sorry about the set. Sucks that you just finished it before that asshole wrecked the whole thing. It looked good, too.”

“Thank you, Bea,” Saria sighed, reclining back on the couch.

Aaron had finally had enough. “Bea, what’s your problem with me?” he demanded of the shark. “I get along with Saria just fine, so why do you hate me so much?”

“You’re an asshole,” she answered. “I mean, you come in here uninvited, you pester us about some pretty fresh trauma, and then you have the audacity to ask why I’m pissed? C’mon, read the room a little! You treat us like we’re your fuckin’ hobby, not like people or respectable beastmen. Fuckin’ excuse me for getting kinda upset about it!” She snapped, baring her teeth at the human.

“You don’t think I treat you like people?” he scoffed. “Of course I treat you like you’re people—the coolest people! You can transform into beasts at will! Saria can spray people, and you can breathe underwater! That's amazing!”

“Yeah, but maybe examining us, touching us without our permission, and then denying that that’s weird treatment isn’t the best way to take criticism—just a thought!” Bea crossed her arms and leaned back on the sofa. Getting into another argument today wasn’t really what she wanted, but she told herself that she wouldn’t need to be so hostile if other people would just act normally.

Aaron was happy to see that, beyond simply showing off her teeth, Bea wasn’t threatening to physically harm him for annoying her. “Ok, I already apologized to Saria for grabbing her tail that one time. If nearly getting sprayed by her weren’t enough of a punishment, you slamming me up against the wall definitely taught me my lesson. So can we just drop that already?!”

He sat down right next to Saria, making her uncomfortably squirm just a bit. “I’m just a friend who wants to learn about my other friends’ lives!” he defended himself.

“You don’t know a single fuckin’ thing about personal boundaries do you?” Bea said, rolling her eyes. “If you had any idea how uncomfortable you make people like us feel then maybe you’d think twice about how you treat folks.” She chuckled dryly as she finished her third slice of pizza out of the box. “But whatever, I’ve made my feelings clear on the matter.”

He looked over to Saria as if looking for her to comfort him. “It’s fine. You’re not that bad,” she weakly reassured him. It was like something in her simply couldn’t allow those around her to feel bad when she knew she could do something about it. “You probably do need to work on learning where people’s boundaries are, but Bea is just upset because today was scary.” The skunk scooted a bit away from Aaron.

Bea scowled and crossed her arms tighter as she leveled a venomous glare at the human. She had no idea why Saria was sparing his feelings, but she wasn’t about to keep this argument going when it clearly had nowhere to go. If Saria wasn’t going to stand up for herself, then Bea wasn’t going to push it any further.

After a few seconds of Saria’s words awkwardly hanging in the air, Aaron reached forward and grabbed for a slice of Bea’s pizza.

As Bea watched Aaron’s hand draw close to her slice of pizza her rage steadily built.

“Literally what did I just fucking say?!” she roared, in an instant transforming into animal mode. “I’m gonna bite your little, thieving hands right off your arms, you fucking cretin!”

Aaron yelped and literally flipped himself over the back of the couch just to hide from the furious shark. “Saria!” he shouted at the skunk who’d just stood up to put a body between him and Bea. “Nirvasyl! Stop her!”

“It’s not Nirvasyl Syndrome, you idiot!” Saria shouted over her shoulder. There was little wonder why he thought it was, though. He’d likely never seen a beastmen transform right in front of him before. That, in addition to Bea’s furious shouting and his hasty fleeing, had made him feel like he’d just watched a much more dramatic transformation take place. “You just pissed her off…”

Saria was now fully in skunk mode herself, though she didn’t anticipate actually needing to use her new form to protect Aaron. She was simply hoping the sight would be enough to dissuade Bea from hurting the human. Her tail raised, she gently placed an arm on each of Bea’s shoulders. “Calm down, calm down…” she said softly to her friend.

“Why should I calm down when that asswipe tried to take my food without fuckin’ asking?!” Bea stomped her foot but didn’t make a move to actually attack Aaron. She just remained standing still, her hands balled tightly into fists.

“I didn’t know!” came the terrified voice from behind the couch.

Saria stomped her foot in response to Bea. She didn’t know if it meant anything to mako sharks, but for skunks, foot-stomping was a warning that they were ready to spray. “Just calm down,” she said gently but firmly. “He didn’t know. You’ve scared him enough already.”

“And I’m gonna rip his head clean off his shoulders if he tries more shit like that in the future. Regardless of whose pizza it was, you don’t fuckin’ snatch someone’s food without permission.” She snarled, revealing her rows of sharp, serrated teeth. She’d very much wanted to leap over that couch and chew Aaron to bits, but unfortunately that sort of thing was frowned upon in modern society.

“Alright, alright… You’ve learned your lesson, right Aaron?”

The human slowly stood up, just his eyes peeking out from behind the couch at first before he rose shakily to his feet. “Woah…” he slowly said. “That was, like, a legit, intense beastman moment, wasn’t it?”

Saria just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Oh, Silver Wolf, she thought, he hasn’t learned his lesson, has he?

“Saria, were you seriously about to spray her for me?!” Aaron asked excitedly.

That was finally the last straw for Bea, who pushed past Saria out of the way and grabbed Aaron by the neck so she could slam him against the wall.

“Alright asshole! I’ve had enough of you! Get the fuck out, or I’ll rip off your head and eat you!” It wasn’t the most creative threat, but Bea meant every word of it.

The next thing the shark felt, apart from the boy’s desperate struggling to remove her arm from around his neck, was a soft spattering against her left cheek. As she turned to look at her friend, she saw that the striped skunk was now facing away from her and her black and white tail was high in the air. “S-sorry!” she said weakly.

The stench seemed to hit Aaron a moment before it made it to Bea. The human instantly brought his hands up to his face to try and cover his nose.

“Aah! For fuck’s sake!” Bea practically threw Aaron down so she could use her arms to cover her nose. Sharks generally had a very strong sense of smell, and Bea unfortunately was no exception to that rule.

With a couple loud gags, Bea made a mad dash for the bathroom. She seemed to make it there just in time, as the sound of her vomiting and groaning in pain and disgust could be heard not even a second later.

Though he was unable to express with words how he felt due to his heavy coughing, Aaron squinted at Saria through teary eyes and nodded, as if saying thank you.

The skunk, pinching her nose as well, nodded back to the human before hurrying after Bea into the bathroom. She quickly knelt down to her side and patted her best friend’s back. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

Bea wasn’t able to say much while she heaved and retched over the toilet. The smell was so utterly rancid that she couldn’t even open her mouth for long enough to say it was alright before more puke spewed forth. She knew she’d taken it a step too far, but Silver Wolf, did that spray smell foul!

“I really didn’t want to do it…” Saria said, explaining herself while Bea couldn’t speak. “But if I hadn’t done it, you would’ve seriously hurt him. I can’t have you getting arrested, Bea… Your record isn't great as it is.”

“He would have had it fuckin coming…” Bea managed to choke out before another wave of retching took away her ability to speak. The shark’s nails were digging into the porcelain of the toilet bowl and her gills were flaring in distress as she gasped for breath.

Saria sighed, grabbed a hand towel off the bathroom towel rack, got it damp and began wiping Bea’s face where it had been sprayed. “He took your slice of pizza, Bea,” the skunk said, exhausted. “That’s not an excuse that would hold up in a court of law.” She smirked, “Just admit it already: I saved you from yourself back there.”

“He… He’s a fucking dick ,and that was just the last straw. I want to rip his stupid ass to shreds for being so touchy and entitled.” Bea didn’t admit it, but she definitely had been stopped from actually really hurting Aaron by Saria.

“Yeah, I know, but—” Before she could finish what she wanted to say, Saria was cut off by the sound of a door slamming. “Well, he’s gone now,” she said. “Hopefully he doesn’t go to the police. Even if you didn’t actually hurt him, you know how it is still illegal for a beastman to threaten a human like that…”

“Oh, but it is legal for him to be a fucking pain in the ass?” Bea grumbled, “At least he’s gone now. Hopefully never fucks with me again… Saying I got Nirvasyl, the fuckin’ nerve…”

“Yeah, he was fucking rude and annoying, but that doesn’t mean you can threaten his life!” Saria groaned and stood up, dropping the towel to the floor in the process. “Why am I even trying to argue with you, Bea? You know I’m fucking right and that what you did was out of line. You just wanna argue with me because you’re difficult like that!” She walked out of the bathroom.

At least she understands me better then most, Bea thought to herself as she stayed where she was. She didn’t want to puke on anything in Saria’s house. The stench of skunk spray was more than enough already. There was no need to add the smell of vomit to it as well.

After a few minutes of letting herself calm down in private, Saria stuck her head back into the bathroom. It stunk awfully, though not of the usual bathroom smells. “Want me to run a bath for you?” she offered. “I don’t know how much of you was spattered with stray musk droplets, so you should probably rinse off and let me wash your clothes before it’s too late.”

“I’ll just shower. Baths with soap sometimes irritate my gills and make them itchy and sore. Thanks, though. I’ll take you up on the offer for some clean clothes,” Bea said as she raised her head from the toilet bowl and started to tug off her shirt.

“Oh, you’re just gonna strip right in front of— Ok then,” Saria quickly accepted what was going on and took Bea’s shirt into her hand.

Bea unhooked and took off her bra and then casually slid off her plain denim shorts. She left her panties on for the sake of decency and dumped the stinky clothes in the skunk’s arms.

“Thanks a bunch,” she said. “Sharks are a bit sensitive to smells and soaps and all sorts of ridiculous shit. For such apex predators, we really are stupidly sensitive to weird shit.”

Saria had never seen the shark fully naked before. She didn’t know what she expected her to look like, but for some reason she didn’t anticipate Bea being completely free of body hair all over. She forced herself to look away and not stare at her.

“Right, yeah,” she chuckled. “Silver Wolf, it always catches me off guard just how ripped you are, even when you’re in shark form.”

“Yeah, this is years of weightlifting and football bulk! Gotta love being shredded,” Bea chuckled.

Saria left the bathroom and walked toward the laundry room. “You know where the shower is upstairs,” she called. “I’ll drop off some clothes outside the bathroom so you won’t have to be naked while these are in the wash."

“Thanks! I’ll be glad just to be clean and all that.” With that, Bea casually strolled almost naked out of the bathroom and upstairs to the bathroom with a shower in it. She turned it on cold and hopped in, eager to clean the spray off her.

Saria tossed the clothes into the washer along with some of her family’s musk-neutralizing detergent, which they’d been lucky enough not to have to use for years. She indeed felt guilty to Bea, her family, and her species as a whole for spraying such a close friend, but she had to remind herself that it was necessary. She wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she’d let Bea maul Aaron.

She turned the wash temperature up as high as it would go and hit ‘Start’. Saria then focused her attention on making sure the living room wasn’t stinky.

Meanwhile, Bea furiously scrubbed her rough skin with as little soap as she could get by with using. Her gills were already starting to itch slightly, and the overpowering scent of fake flowers and other artificial soap smells were giving her a headache. The cold water over her skin felt good though, and once she’d cleaned and rinsed her hair she found herself feeling a lot calmer than earlier. Perhaps sharks really should stick to the water, she thought. Being out of it did somewhat stress her out.


End file.
